This hasn’t been the best week to talk about all the positive aspects sport can have on society. We had the issues with the NBA in China, the always engaged issues with Enes Kanter and the Turkish government, and even the always simmering controversy around Colin Kaepernick and whether or not NFL teams will still give him a shot at playing, with his agents saying they reached out to every team with no offers. While all three of these debates projected way beyond the discussions that the casual fan likes to normally talk about, they still reminded us that the impact of sports in society is stronger and more evident than ever before.
So let’s find some sunshine for what sport does. The Washington Mystics became the latest championship jewel in the crown of Monumental Sports and Entertainment, helping the WNBA cap a great year of growth, increased awareness and storytelling. As the final game wound down against the Connecticut Sun Thursday night, the celebration began, and I happened to be watching as Ryan Ruocco and Rebecca Lobo capped off the great run of Washington to get to the title, led by their transcendent star Elena Della Donne, who battled through injuries to again be the one to watch and admire in The W. Because of the league’s increased push in large scale storytelling, more casual fans probably know of Della Donne today than they would have in year’s past, and even more became aware of her special place in so many areas, including health and wellness, through the amazing story of her relationship with her older sister, which was so beautifully told (watch a teaser here) by Andrea Kramer on HBO Real Sports this past spring. It made me a bigger fan of her as a person than I would have ever been of her as an athlete.
So with all that as a backdrop, we rolled into the final seconds of the long WNBA season on Thursday night, and it came and went with the expected fanfare and congratulations.
Except on Friday, during a casual conversation with a colleague, did the power of what sports can do to change society again smack me in the head.
I was catching up on the normal business things when the person I was speaking to mentioned he was heading out a few minutes early to catch the Mystics celebration Friday afternoon in Washington, where he worked. While that didn’t seem too unusual, it’s what he said next that really stuck home, and again made me realize how the games people play can help change lives.
He said. “I was watching the end of the game last night with my eight year old son. He loves all things basketball but really has taken to the Mystics, he has the jersey and everything. During the celebration after the game one of the announcers, I think it was Holly Rowe, commented that Elena was there hugging her wife. My son turned to me and said, ‘Dad does that mean that she is married to another girl?’ I said straight up yes it does. Without missing a beat he looked back to the TV and said, cool, they seem to be really happy.” And back to the celebration he went.
Wow.
We both paused for a second to realize the impact, the positive one that that short moment had. Not too long ago that might have been unacknowledged or met with uncomfortable silence. Now it was a moment of information and a move back to the moment at hand.
That’s progress, and it speaks volumes for the power of young people to accept, understand, find compassion and go with the flow. It wasn’t strange. It wasn’t unusual. It was life. And it was positive.
Now one of the downsides of social media, and being involved in sport in global nature is there are going to be places where business and opinions clash. We see it more often, and it was on full display this week. There is no short term answer to what we witnessed in Asia this week, or what we when and where sports becomes a footnote to history, for better or sometimes worse.
Then there are the words of a young boy in Washington; whose simple question and the answer his dad have should make us all feel pretty good about how we can move opinions and society for the better through games and the stories that surround them.
So congrats to the Mystics, and the WNBA and their new Comish Cathy Englebert, for a landmark season. More importantly congrats to the young man who with a simple question, should make us all pause, reflect and take a positive step forward as people.
